[1/155] Rijal al-Kashshi: Hamduwayh from Ayyub from Safwan from Dawud b. Farqad who said: I said to Abi Abdillah عليه السلام: I was praying the Maghrib in the mosque of the messenger of the Allah صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم [in Madina] when a man behind me said: “What is [the matter] with you [that you are] two groups concerning the hypocrites, while Allah has cast them back (to disbelief) because of what they have earned. Do you want to guide him whom Allah has made to go astray?” (4:88), I realized that he said this with me in mind, so I turned towards him and said: “and certainly the devils do inspire their allies to dispute with you, and if you obey them in doing so then you would indeed be of the polytheists” (6:121), then I recognized that it was Harun bin Sa`d, he (Dawud) said: so Abu Abdillah عليه السلام laughed when he heard this and said: you pre-empted him with the most fitting reply even before engaging in a debate with him – by the permission of Allah. I said: may I be made your ransom, truly by Allah – he did not utter a single word in reply [he was flummoxed], so Abu Abdillah عليه السلام said: no one is more ignorant than them (the Zaydiyya), among the Murjia there exist jurists and scholars, and among the Khawarij there exist jurists and scholars, but no one is more ignorant than these.

Comments

Harun bin Sa`d (Sa`id) al-Ijli was the Kufan leader of those who came to be called the Ijliyya. These were very similar to the Batri Zaydis. Harun himself was very hostile to the pacifist Imams. His followers were known for accepting Abu Bakr and Umar and not considering an unbroken succession of Imams to be necessary. They would consider as Imam any descendant of Ali who would unsheathe the sword and confront the corrupt temporal rulers. Harun lampooned the followers of Ja`far for what he saw as their extreme exaltation of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and their uncritical esotericism.

Harun had supported Zayd b. Ali in his revolt, and later joined himself with Ibrahim b. Abdallah [who had taken up the fight against the Abbasids with his brother al-Nafs al-Zakiyya Muhammad b. Abdallah b. al-Hasan b. al-Hasan b. Ali b. Abi Talib] who made him the governor of Wasit.

There he gave an accession-Khuṭba in which he inveighed against al-Manṣūr’s methods of governing and the deplorable social conditions of his time; in so doing, he is supposed to have been well received by the religious scholars of the city.

When the troops of Manṣūr surrounded him in the city in 145 AH, he decided against making a sortie – presumably because, due to his advanced age, he was generally inclined to caution but also out of political considerations as he wished to wait to see the outcome of the encounter at Bākhamrā. Once the result was clear, he fled to Baṣra. Afterwards all trace of him is lost. Many believed that he died while still en route; others held the view that he had managed to escape and died in hiding about 150 AH. In Kūfa the Abbasid governor had his house destroyed.

Dawud b. Farqad was a Kufan client of the Shi`i family of Abu al-Sammal al-Asadı. He was a companion of al-Sadiq and al-Kadhim. An early authority like Ibn Fadhal says about him ‘Thiqatun Thiqa’ which emphasizes his impeccable credentials as a narrator. He is in turn considered trustworthy by both al-Najashi and al-Tusi. He had a famous book of Hadith which was transmitted by a large number of companions. He occurs in the chains of 95 narrations spread out in our books of Hadith that have survived.